Ends tomorrow

The Lower Mainland’s newest online marketplace will open on Monday, April 28, when LikeItBuyItVancouver.com begins previewing a limited-time sale of everything from household goods to consumer electronics to cruises, travel, cars, gift cards and personal services.

Canucks thumped by Bruins again as Stanley Cup Final tied 2-2

Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo looks up to the rafters after Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand beat him with a shot in the second period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday at TD Garden in Boston.

Photograph by: Jim Rogash
, Getty Images

• Who should start in goal for the Canucks in Game 5? Click here to vote.

BOSTON — Their defensive game seems in a shambles, their top offensive players aren't producing, their once vaunted power play is sputtering and their goaltending is shaky.

The Vancouver Canucks should probably consider themselves fortunate to be heading home tied at two games apiece with the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final.

What began as a best-of-seven series is now a best-of-three. The Canucks still have home-ice advantage and that would appear to be all they have going for them.

There simply aren't any positives to be gleaned from two games in Boston where they were outscored 12-1. The Canucks followed up Monday night's 8-1 Game 3 debacle with a 4-0 loss Wednesday night at the TD Garden.

Game 5 goes Friday night at Rogers Arena (5 p.m., CBC, Team 1040) and the Canucks clearly have some things to sort out between now and then.

"You know, if somebody would have told me at the beginning of the year that we could play for the Stanley Cup, best two-out-of-three series with home-ice advantage in front of our fans, I would have taken those odds, I would have taken that anytime to play for the big prize," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, desperately trying to cling to something positive.

"That's what we've got right now. We're going to put these last two games behind us. We play real well at home. We're going to go and feed off the energy from our fans and give it our best shot."

Wednesday night, they couldn't put a shot by Boston goalie Tim Thomas, who made 38 saves for his third shutout of the playoffs. Thomas has allowed just five goals in the first four games of the series and has Vancouver's forwards frustrated.

"I thought we played a good game tonight," insisted Vancouver winger Daniel Sedin. "We should score a few in the first (period) and the game is going to be different. When you can't score they obviously get going and they played well in the second, we made a few mistakes and it cost us. We should be encouraged by the way we played, but we have to find a way to solve Thomas, that's for sure."

The Sedins have combined for just two points in this series and Daniel has both of them. Ryan Kesler has just one assist. The Canucks’ power play went zero for six in the game and has gone 1-for-22 in the series.

"It's tough right now, it's a tough loss tonight," Kesler said. "We have to forget about it. We're in a good spot, we've got home-ice advantage and it's a best two out of three right now. They did their job at home and we have to go back and do a job at home."

Minus regulars Dan Hamhuis and Aaron Rome, the Canucks defence had a terrible time moving the puck out of their own end. And goalie Roberto Luongo let a couple of soft ones get by him. He was replaced by Cory Schneider when Rich Peverley scored his second of the night early in the third period to put Boston up 4-0.

Luongo was in the net for all 12 of the goals the Bruins scored in Games 3 and 4 and Vigneault could do what he did in the first round against Chicago and choose to go with Schneider on Friday night.

"It basically comes down to working as a five-man unit," said Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa. "We're not doing that right now. We're not doing it in our end, their end and definitely in the neutral zone. We definitely have to get back to doing that."

Peverley put a shot through Luongo's legs midway through the first period and Michael Ryder and Brad Marchand scored goals just over two minutes apart midway through the second as the Bruins picked up where they left off in Game 3.

Peverley, who was filling in on the top line for injured winger Nathan Horton, scored off the rush at 11:59 of the first after Vancouver defenceman Alex Edler gambled and lost on the play as he attempted to check centre David Krejci at the Vancouver blue line. Krejci was able to chip the puck to a streaking Peverley, who had a clear path to the goal and put his shot between Luongo's pads.

The Canucks again felt like they had the better of the Bruins in the first period, when they outshot Boston 12-6. But their power play failed to score on two early opportunities and ended up 0-for-4 on the night.

Luongo gave up soft goal at 11:11 of the second when Ryder beat him glove side with a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

"Sami (Salo) tried to block it and it was going high glove and it dropped by about three feet," Luongo said. "I don't know what else I can say about that. I was out, I was challenging, I was ready and it just dropped. It's probably viewed as a bad goal, but I don't know what else to do on that play."

Marchand made it 3-0 at 13:29 after Keith Ballard and Henrik Sedin played the part of Keystone Kops behind their own net. Bergeron stripped the puck off Henrik and got it in front to Marchand, who beat Luongo glove side — notice a pattern here? — from close range with a backhand shot.

Peverley's second of the night came at 3:39 of the third after Milan Lucic went around Bieksa and threw the puck in front. It bounced off Luongo's stick and then appeared to hit Peverley's leg before getting by Luongo.

"It was a tough one," was Luongo's assessment of the night. "Two of the goals went off something and in. Right now we are not getting the breaks and it's a matter of staying focused. We have got home-ice advantage for a reason and we have to regroup here and make sure come Game 5 at home we play the type of game want to be playing."

"The battle level has got to increase a little bit, but we need to keep doing the same things and not get frustrated," added Bieksa. "We have been resilient all year long and come back from big losses and there's no reason we can't do it again."

Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo looks up to the rafters after Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand beat him with a shot in the second period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday at TD Garden in Boston.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.